Silencing Scientists "There was trouble of this kind here in the George W. Bush years, when scientists were asked to toe the party line on climate policy and endangered species. But nothing came close to what is being done in Canada... This is more than an attack on academic freedom. It is an attempt to guarantee public ignorance. It is also designed to make sure that nothing gets in the way of the northern resource rush — the feverish effort to mine the earth and the ocean with little regard for environmental consequences. The Harper policy seems designed to make sure that the tar sands project proceeds quietly, with no surprises, no bad news, no alarms from government scientists. To all the other kinds of pollution the tar sands will yield, we must now add another: the degradation of vital streams of research and information." New York Times Editorial by Verlyn Klinkenborg

"If the Keystone XL is built, the State Department says it could spill more than 100 times."

"U.S. consumers are not likely to see any reduction in pump prices; after all, the whole reason for building the Keystone XL is to raise the price that producers get paid." 24/7 Wall Street

"Oil-sands developers are counting on Keystone XL to lift heavy crude prices by connecting them to the world's largest refining market in the Gulf Coast as they double production by 2025." Pipeline rejection could set precedent

But if you approve the Keystone XL saying it does not 'exacerbate carbon pollution' then…

Key Sources

Dirty truth screen: "Canada is the Dirty Old Man" Bus shelter poster by Franke James. Guardian UK Dirty Old Man quote. Photo of shelter and people by Logan Mock-Bunting. Oh No Canada! art show in Washington, DC. Statistic: Producing Tar Sands Oil is up to 350% dirtier than conventional oil. FAIL: How the Keystone XL Tar Sands PipeLine Flunks the Climate Test Page 6: "extracting and upgrading oil from tar sands can be as much as 4.5 times more greenhouse-gas-intensive than oil from other conventional north american crude sources." Stockman, Lorne. “Petroleum coke: The Coal Hiding in the tar sands.” Oil Change International. January 2013. Page 3:"It is a well established fact that full exploitation of the tar sands is a grave threat to the climate. Emissions from tar sands extraction and upgrading are between 3.2 and 4.5 times higher than the equivalent emissions from conventional oil produced in north america." Copyright 2013 Franke James. All rights reserved.

More from Franke James

I never intended to become an activist. As a marine scientist, climate change has been a big focus of my career over the last 16 years. I’ve worked with governments on their climate plans, people in...